Three Russian Discourses and Significant Silence on the War in Ukraine

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security, Ukraine War

The noise of jingoist propaganda and anti-Western hysteria emanating from Moscow is not as monotonous as it often seems, and the variations expose significant differences between and within Russian elite groups.

Vladimir Putin. On the left, Russian Security Council Secretary, Nikolai Patrushev. Photo: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office

Recent military setbacks, such as the destruction of a mixed air group over the Bryansk region on May 13 and the incursion of a Russian paramilitary group into the Belgorod region on May 22, have amplified these variations, as the official versions have departed exceedingly from reality (Nezavisimaya gazeta, May 23).

Russian President Vladimir Putin is stuck with the pseudo-historical denials of Ukraine’s existence as an independent state and reassurances that the “special military operation” is going according to plan. Thus, others endeavor to advance effectual war discourses (Novayagazeta.eu, May 26).Read More

Summit in Hiroshima Charts Ending for War in Ukraine

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security, Ukraine War

From May 19 to 21, Japan hosted the most recent meeting of the seven heads of state (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) as well as the European Union in the so-called G7 format.

Ukraine President Zelenskyy and European Council President Charles Michel at the 2023 G7 summit. Photo: European Council

Overall, the key point on the agenda was certainly strengthening the unity of democratic states in the vast Indo-Pacific region to counter growing coercion from China.

The new momentum in upgrading this unity has, however, generated the need to confront the common threat produced by Russia’s war against Ukraine, which is coming to a pivotal juncture.

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Central Asian Leaders Opted to Attend Curtailed Parade in Moscow

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security, Ukraine War

The Victory Day celebrated on May 9 is a hugely important and emotionally loaded holiday for the majority of Russians and Ukrainians, Kazakhs and Uzbeks, whose grandfathers fought together and defeated Nazi Germany back in 1945.

2023 Victory Day parade in Moscow. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Russia

In Russia, this solemn Remembrance Day was gradually converted by all-pervasive propaganda into a manifestation of militarism and aggressive ambition.

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Thai Elections Mark Declining Public Interest in Nationalism, Patronage Politics

Posted by & filed under Governance, Regions and Powers

This week’s election results handed a surprising victory to the opposition Move Forward Party. While it remains to be seen if the conservative establishment will allow them to actually take power, the vote signals a turning point in the mindset of the Thai public.

The Thai political map is now painted with orange, the colour representing the opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) which swept away the competition in an unprecedented victory in last Sunday’s general election.

Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Move Forward Party. Photo: Sirakorn Lamyai / Wikimedia Commons

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What’s Next in Climate Security Studies? Exploiting Synergies between Practice and Research

Posted by & filed under Environment

The increase in global temperatures by over 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times is already having broad and significant impacts. An ongoing multi-year drought in Eastern Africa, for instance, has been attributed to global warming. Hunger crises, displacement, and exacerbated conflict between pastoralist groups are some of the reported dire consequences. This blog post reports on a recent study of the consequences of environmental hazards for attitudes toward violence in Uganda. The story was originally published by New Security Beat.

Piloting UN FAO-led survey data collection near Moroto in Karamoja, Uganda. Photo: Nina von Uexkull.s

The past several years have led to greater recognition of climate-related threats. Most recently, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and the UAE made a public pledge to championing climate change within the United Nations Security Council. While a comprehensive resolution on climate change as a threat to peace and security has yet to be adopted, climate change impacts on instability have already been acknowledged in multiple UN Security Council resolutions on UN missions, including those addressing ongoing armed conflicts in DR Congo, Iraq, Somalia and South Sudan.Read More

The Other ‘Peace Process’ on Afghanistan: Geneva Talks 1982-1988

Posted by & filed under Peacebuilding, Regions and Powers

In the past three years, the US government’s role in the Doha Talks (2010-2020) has attracted scrutiny and criticism within the United States and abroad.

Zalmay Khalilzad (USA) and Taliban representative Abdul Ghani Baradar sign the agreement in Doha, Qatar in 2020. State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain

Starting in November 2010, the Doha Talks was a process of intermittent negotiations between the United States and the Afghan Taliban. The culmination of this process was the Doha Agreement, signed in February 2020. The agreement facilitated the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan.

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Erdogan Struggles with Securing the Votes of Young People and Women in Turkey’s Fateful Election

Posted by & filed under Governance, Regions and Powers

In one of Turkey’s most popular soap operas Kizilcik Şerbeti [Cranberry Sorbet] Nursema, a young conservative woman in love with another man, is married off by her family to another against her own wishes. On her wedding night, in an argument with her new husband she is pushed off the balcony. Miraculously surviving, she confronts both families in a dramatic scene that unleashed a discussion among Turks in social media and on the street.

The question posed on Twitter was: «Who would Nursema vote for?”

The answer to this question will help determine Turkey’s future.

Protesters shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration in Ankara. NTB / AFP photo / Adem Altan

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Muted V-Day Celebrations in Russia Amid Disastrous War

Posted by & filed under Regions and Powers, Security, Ukraine War

Victory Day in Russia continues to resonate throughout Russia society, and official propaganda in the past decade has strived to change the meaning of this emotionally charged and solemn day of remembrance into a feast of militarism and jingoism.

Vladimir Putin carrying the photo of his father during Victory Day 2015 and the (now canceled) Immortal Regiment rally (Bessmertny Polk). Photo: kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons

The slogan “we can do it again” (mozhem povtorit) pervaded loud festivities even during the pandemic-caused lockdown (Sibreal.org, May 6). Not so this year.

Military parades were canceled in many cities, and the public rally “Immortal Regiment” (Bessmertny Polk), which gathered large crowds carrying portraits of relatives who perished in past wars, was canceled even in Moscow. Officially, these changes were announced as reactions to security concerns; however, in reality, they are perhaps more about the inadvertent exposure of tens of thousands of casualties in the ongoing war against Ukraine (The Moscow Times, April 24).Read More

The Demand For US Leadership Outpaces Resentment Against It

Posted by & filed under Security, Ukraine War

President Joe Biden’s long-awaited announcement of decision to run for the second presidential term has brought into a sharper focus the new quality of US leadership in global affairs, which he has delivered, perhaps without any grand strategic design.

President Joe Biden. Photo: Michael Stokes / Wikimedia Commons

The 2024 US elections will be run and determined primarily by competing domestic agendas, as is usually the case, but the coincidence of Biden’s announcement with the state visit to USA of South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol points to a greater prominence of foreign policy matters than was the case in his previous contestation with President Donald Trump in 2020.Read More

Without Clear Goals in Ukraine, All Nations Are “Fighting with the Last War” and That’s a Big Problem.

Posted by & filed under Security, Ukraine War

Initial Western support for Ukraine in the face of murderous Russian aggression was strong and unified. With Putin’s ambitions to capture Kyiv in shambles, Ukraine’s survival has been assured, but the war drags on.

Picture created with Dall-E version 2, using the prompt “White crosses on a military cemetery stretching all the way to the horizon on a gray, misty day, oil painting”.

The Ukrainian government has set its sights on absolute victory, including retaking the territories Russia occupies since 2014, reparation payments, extradition of war criminals, NATO and EU membership, and lasting societal change within Russia to tame its expansionist ambitions.

How these goals will be reached without invading Russia for fears of nuclear escalation is not clear, and several well-informed voices stress that absolute victory in Ukraine is very unlikely.Read More